MOSCOW, September 17. /TASS/. Russian embassies abroad are subjected to extreme pressure ahead of the elections to the Russian parliament’s lower house, the State Duma, this weekend, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday.
"Our embassies abroad are indeed under the most severe pressure," she told journalists.
"We wrote diplomatic notes and sent them to the relevant countries, emphasizing the need to organize a secure voting process so that our citizens and compatriots living abroad could come to the polling stations. However, these countries either never responded or came up with vague replies," according to her.
Zakharova also pointed to a strike by a Ukrainian drone on one of the polling stations in the Zaporozhye Region.
She slammed the West's criticism of the upcoming elections in Russia as monstrous hypocrisy.
"Now they [the West] are suddenly worried about how our elections are organized. This is monstrous hypocrisy that has nothing to do with us. We know what their concerns are worth," Zakharova emphasized.
The single voting day to elect lawmakers to the 9th Russian State Duma will take place on September 18-20. For the first time ever, residents of the recently incorporated Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, as well as the Kherson and Zaporozhye Regions, will participate in legislative elections for the lower house of the Russian parliament.
A total of ten parties are taking part in the election: United Russia, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF), the Liberal Democratic Party of the Russian Federation (LDPR), New People, A Just Russia - For Truth, the Party of Pensioners for Social Justice, the Communists of Russia, Rodina, the Party of Direct Democracy, as well as the Greens Ecological Party.
Elections for regional legislative bodies will also be held in 39 Russian constituent entities, alongside elections for regional leaders. In eight regions, the leaders will be elected directly, while in three regions, they will be chosen by the regional parliaments. A total of 23,000 seats will be filled.
